Intelligence Dampening Sphere
by Pjaay
Summary: Marcus J. Wheatley - Stocks Managing Assistant - Set to transer to AI on 06/04/1982. . .SHE'S been transferred... now it is HIS turn, but he doesn't want to give in just as easily. Human!Wheatley
1. Prologue

"**Intelligence Dampening Sphere"**

**By Pjaay**

||Prologue||

||-09:03-||-1982-||-Aperture Laboratories-||-Tier 3 Waiting Room-||

She was sobbing. Her long caramel hair swaying back and forth as she rocked in her seat. The cheap orange plastic furniture bending slightly with her body as she moved. Her slight traces of make-up were smeared down her pale face and hands, and her cream cardigan had fallen low on her left shoulder.

My hand gripped tighter on the corner of the wall I was peering around, blinking a few times as I registered what my work colleague was doing. She was sobbing, mourning, over the death of a close friend. Well, the death of our founder, Cave Johnson. He died of Mercury poisoning after the purchase of $70million worth of Moon Rocks. In all honesty, I was pretty torn by his death also, but this woman was much closer to him. She was his best friend, work associate, and bearer of probably his only child.

Caroline looked up, shakily, in my direction. I gasped and withdrew myself back around the corner of the wall, bringing a hand up to my mouth to quieten my breathing. She must have seen me move. I definitely don't want her to think I saw her crying and in a broken state.

"Ma...Marcus?" Came her frail, female voice, "Is that... you, Marcus?"

I let out a long breath, which I happened to be unknowingly holding, and walked around from the confine of the wall, holding my hands up either side of my head and trying to smile casually.

"Ya got me," I said, looking towards the broken woman with empathy. She stared back with eyes full or torment and sorrow, and I kind of regretted being a little _too _casual.

"Sorry," I said defeatedly, lowering my hands and clenching them into weak fists. My face softened slightly as I walked towards her, "I'm sorry about Mr. Johns... Cave,"

Caroline had always insisted to me and a few close others that we referred to Mr. Johnson as Cave when she were around, it seemed to make her feel a little more comfortable when talking about him. Like, she wouldn't have been maybe if we were speaking about him with his title, as if it would seem to un-loyal if we didn't... I don't think she liked speaking of him in a formal manner.

"I..." Was all she could muster, before throwing her head back into her hands and crying softly.

Almost instantly, I jogged over to her side and took a seat in one of the other flimsy orange plastic seats, sympathetically draping my arm over her shoulder and pulling her into a side hug, stroking her hair down carefully.

"Shhh," I said quietly, "Shh, don't cry,"

I really wasn't one to comfort people, or at least successfully.

"I-I Just," she started, still holding her head in her hands against my torso, "We... We were so close... We have a child, she.. She won't grow up to know her dad... and... and..."

She looked up to me, and I got a good look into how her emotions had effected her looks. Dark smears of make-up were surrounding her eyes, crows feet wrinkles either side of them, and her peach soft skin was pale and stained with her tears, dried or not. She looked a mess, and knowing she did didn't help her none.

I swallowed uncomfortably at her longing gaze, she opened her mouth slightly and blinked, more tears forming in her large brown eyes.

"... and she won't grow up to know me, either,"

I remained silent, knowing of what she was talking about. I looked down into my own lap at my loosely clenched free hand.

"... I don't want to become that machine, Marcus," She said slowly after a long pause, a little more structure to her voice, "I don't want my daughter growing up and living her life without me,"

"But... You'll still be there for her to talk too," I suggested, removing my arm from around her shoulder and turning to get a good look at her, "She will still have her mother,"

Caroline looked away, over at the empty office tables and computers on the far side of the extremely large waiting room. Her eyes were dull, and her eyelids were half lowered. No emotions were painted onto her face, only a half-hearted stare that could rival anyone else's.

"Not in the person," She murmured, her gaze slowly wandering down, until it reached her lap. Her hands turned over and revealed her palms. The make-up had dried on her skin. She turned her head to face me, and inhaled deeply, catching me off guard slightly, so I looked around in a confused manner.

"I'd better go was my hands," she said dejectedly, adding after a pause, "... and my face, for that matter,"

My throat ceased up at the failure at comforting her.

"The medical employees are never happy to have a filthy looking patient, are they," she asked rhetorically, inhaling again before rising to her feet. Without another word, she walked shakily in the direction of the other side of the room, where the woman's toilets were. I watched her with worry growing inside me, she clearly didn't want this exchange of body, she knew that it means she would have to physically abandon her child, and risk her life for that of her company; which now she owned after the death of Cave. Who knew, she may not even survive the transfer... I don't want to think about it.

I sighed, still sitting in the chair beside Caroline's. I slumped back in my seat and looked around with sad curiosity, at all the pictures of Cave that were hung up on one wall, with the words "Founder" punched into shining brass below the centre portrait. Although he was a little 'Daring' so to speak, with his ideas and inventions, he was the whole foundation of Aperture, and without him, I wouldn't have this well paying job, he would have never met Caroline, their daughter would have never been brought to this Earth... and Black Mesa would have never gotten the chance to steal all his plans and make him effectively bankrupt.

_''Tier 3, Mr M. Wheatley, you are needed in Meeting Room Alpha for an urgent requested call with the Biogenics Department from Sector 9 of Tier 6," _A sudden burst from a nearby intercom shouted, making me jump literally out of my skin.

Caroline would have to wait, urgent calls like this are always more important. I think.

As I got up to leave the waiting area of Tier 3, something kept passing through my mind which was hard to phase out, and that was why the _Biogenics _Department wanted to mess with a lowly Stocks Manager's Assistant. Why would they?

||- End Prologue -||

**Hey, you know me, I only tend to update if I get enough motivation. Seeing as I wrote this in one sitting, and it's currently 01:36am, some good reviews/alerts would really be appreciated... not to mention the fact I REALLY need to pee.**

**Much love!**

**-~-~PJAY~-~-**

**xOx**


	2. Chapter 1

||-10:46-||-4thJune-||-1982-||-Sector 9-||-Tier 6-||

"I seriously do _not _want to go through with this!" I hollered, trying in vain to wrench my shoulders from being strapped down against the surgical bed. My bare chest rubbed hotly against the belts as they were tightened further around my chest as I exhaled. Wheezing slightly, I threw my head around and cried out, "Y-You didn't even get my consent! I didn't say you could—AGH!"

Something similar to a jolt of electricity was sent shooting up my right arm, and left me with a sore feeling shoulder. Almost instantly I realised my right arm no longer responded to me, which made me cry out more desperately. My eyes started to water.

"Oh God! Stop it! _I DID NOT GIVE MY CONSENT!_" I yelled, trying as hard as I could to arch my back and break the strong bonds that held me tied to the black silicone surface. As I tried with the last of my strength to break the belts, another shock was sent through me. A much worse one, this time. My whole body fell limp under it's power, and I cried out as my head fell back. My eyes clamped shut in pain and I panted madly. I could feel the sweat pouring down my forehead, cheeks, and the rest of my body.

All I wore at that moment were the pinstriped grey trousers that I had worn to work that same morning, my shirt, jacket, socks and shoes had all been disposed of.

I guess I should explain to you how the... Biogenic's department managed to get me strapped down into a bed screaming to be let out. Well, hm, it's quite a funny story. Fft, not funny at all. It's downright WRONG. Cave Johnson would totally undermine what these Doctors were doing, and were probably about to do, and would fire them on the spot! Especially since I was a close friend of his and Caroline's! I had my rights! I was allowed my freedom! I was not meant to be half naked strapped into a bed being shocked with electricity and poked my doctors!

"Mr. Wheatley," A calm and collected voice, interrupting my raging thoughts, said morosely from the opposite side of the room. I averted my eyes as best I could to see the male, but was forced to see him blurredly on the peripheral of my view. I growled under my steamy breath as he got up from leaning against the confined room's wall, scribbling something onto his notepad, and then he started walking casually towards me.

He glanced up at the heart-rate monitor, which was connected by small silvery pads to my left breast, I could just about hear its beeps over the pulse throbbing loudly in my ears as I strained my neck to try and lift my head. My body was still limp and motionless from the paralysing shocks.

"As fast a pace as it is, your heart-rate seems to be moderately stable for procedure to continue," The man stated clearly, jotting something down, then coming into the right of my view. I instantly yelled at him.

"You _said _this was just a meeting, not a _kidnapping_! If Cave were not_ dead _he'd have you sacked on the spot!-"

"Actually," The doctor said slowly, using a hand to push his circle-rimmed glasses further up his nose, "It was his orders that lead to this 'meeting' in the first place, so you have no valid reason to press your charges directly unto me,"

"W-What..." I stammered, my eyes opening wide to stare at the dishevelled looking doctor, his wrinkled brow became more defined as he raised his eyebrows and nodded firmly.

"He gave us strict orders, shortly before his death – about a few days, he ordered us to... _take_... Aperture Employees for a testing AI transaction; Mr. Johnson's orders were for, along with the creation of Ms. Caroline's AI, more, smaller 'Sphere's' to help her through her course, and to help maintain the facility,"

"... So.. I was chosen," I panted, out of breath from the previous struggle, "...Was chosen for... for... a transaction?"

"Correct,"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Cave Johnson had ordered the Biogenics department to take people from specific classes of work at Aperture... and turn them into so-called 'Sphere's' for the release of Caroline's AI? This was stupid, _moronic _of them. So.. Just because I was a lowly Stocks Managing Assistant, they think they can just pluck me from the crowd and use me for an experiment? Really?

The unnamed doctor turned away and cleared his throat, I stared longingly at the hem of his long white lab coat. Switching my gaze between it and the Aperture logo printed on his back.

I didn't know what to think anymore. I can't trust my own colleagues, not if they were planning on just taking us lower-branched workers and turning them into robots. If I couldn't trust my life with that of my own work, and seeing as I spend most of my life here, I don't even see the point in trying to fight back. I mean, even if I won, I'd still be within the facility, and brought back to the Biogenic's Ward for further... treatment.

"It seems," He continued, I could hear him flipping the sheets on his notepad, "It seems that _you _have been chosen to take the role of the 'Intelligence Dampening Sphere' Labelled; 'In case of Emergencies, or dire need,'"

The doctor went directly back over to me, and turned a little valve that was connected to a pipe which had been painfully inserted into my upper right bicep. I heard the hiss of gas, and my eyes fuzzed as the unknown substance was pumped slowly into my system; it took me a while to register what he had just said.

"Intelligence... dampening..." I questioned slowly, "Doesn't that make me... like... stupid,"

My voice was slurring, and my vision dimming fast. I barely caught the sight of the doctors cold laugh before all my senses were gone, and I was left lying in darkness. Cold, quiet darkness.

-:-:-:-:-

So cold, that it hurt.

Slowly, ebbing through me, that cold was inching closer and closer to pain, thumping through me again and again like a heartbeat. I found now, I could move my arms and legs, but I was still strapped somehow to the ground – like as if my back were super-glued to the floor.

I writhed around and screamed, without sound, as the cold pain spread throughout my body and up to my head, where then the pain evolved into a popping sensation. It was like each brain cell in my head was popping, one by one delivering some pain which inflicted me in different parts of my body.

Screaming at the top of my silent lungs, I yelled with pant after pant, trying to strain myself through the pain as it enveloped my entire being and make me almost want to throw up. It was around this point, that the popping in my head slowed, and the cold pain, turned to _hot _pain.

All change in temperatures had caused an unhealthy sweat to occur, and it began pouring down my face as if it were raining.

Slowly but surely, the terrifying pain was withdrawing from me, at every beat of my erratic, distant, pulse, there was the relief of the reduction of pain.

After the pain was gone, hopefully, I lay still. I fear that moving may trigger another hell-storm of pain, so deciding to wait it out may have been a good turning point. I listened to my breathing as it slowly steadied; I could just about feel the heartbeat return, and my eyes no longer hurt from being clenched so hard. After gathering some strength, I managed to bring my arms up to my face, and lay my hands across it; exhaling for a good while.

Opening my eyes, I stared at my hands, grateful I could see them; and passing the fact my whole surroundings were black, I waited for my eyes to catch up with what I were doing, and then stared at my hands. They were cold; so deathly cold that it had irritated my face and make my cheek twitch. This was not right.

"Hey, boy, are you just gonna lay there and stare at your hands like they're your _only friends, _or are you gonna get up and greet me?" A confident voice bellowed from behind me.

I genuinely flipped around in worry, on the floor, to find that I were no longer 'super-glued' to the black ground. Flopped forwards on my stomach, I stared at the polished brown boots of a man I knew all too well. His engraved initials on the tongue of the boot made me soften inside.

I looked up sharply, my eyes greeted by the confident brown own of none other than the CEO of Aperture Science.

"Well," He grinned, bushy eyebrows furrowing. He opened a hand down in my direction for me to take, "You gonna get up, or lay there like a lemon?"

I stared up in awe.

"Ca...Cave,"

**I know you probably didn't want this short of a chapter.**

**But it really is getting late (3:53am)**

**...or early?**

**THE BIRDS ARE ALREADY SINGING**

**GODDAMNIT.**

**Why AM I NOT ASLEEP RIGHT NOW.**

**Whatever...**

**PLEASE, _PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE_**

**READ**

**REVIEW**

**GIVE FEEDBACK.**

**Much thanks**

**-~-~PJAY~-~-**

**xOx**


	3. Chapter 2

"**Intelligence Dampening Sphere"**

**-Chapter2-**

_Previously;_

_"Well," He grinned, bushy eyebrows furrowing. He opened a hand down in my direction for me to take, "You gonna get up, or lay there like a lemon?"_

_I stared up in awe._

_"Ca...Cave,"_

||-?:?-||-?-||-1982-||?||

"That's my name," the CEO of Aperture Science grinned, still holding his hand down to me, "Get up off the floor before you... uhh... get your trousers dirty,"

Taking my friends hand, I weakly pulled myself to my feet. I brushed down my trousers from whatever dust I had managed to pick up from the pitch black ground, and then looked up to The Founder with a knowing smile.

"You do _not _know how good it is to see you right now," I grinned, although still weak from the escapade I had just been through, "Even though..."

I tried averting my eye's from his brown own, but it was so hard not too; he throws a compelling argument even by not speaking!

"I know, I know; I'm technically dead! How cool is that!"

"I.. Uhm,"

"Pssh, I cheated death long enough, and besides, I feel much _much _better than I had done before!" He raised his arms for emphasis and grinned more broadly, "I'm Cave _Johnson_ for Christ's sake! Death doesn't stop _me _from doing what I do best!"

"What you do best, Sir?"

"Wait," Cave laughed, "SIR? Are you being serious? _Marcus_, I have a name, you've used it once already, use it again,"

"Right, Right, sorry. It's just, it's so good to see you again!" I said shakily, folding my arms and taking a weary step to the side. As good a friend I was with the deceased CEO, It was still as daunting as ever being face to face with him, whether he were actually dead or not. I tried to find something else to look at, but beside him, there was literally nothing; we were both stood in a vast expanse of pitch black _nothing_.

"So," Cave said eagerly, throwing his hands into the pockets of his home-made, highly modified and embroidery covered, suave, patchwork infused jacket. "You've here; you're dead. How'd ya go?"

I blinked in confusion. My eyes darting around for a moment. Realisation struck me slowly, and I opened my mouth to try to utter a sentence. My eyebrows arched and I looked up to the tall Cave for help, he looked back at me with confidence, but also with a lot of confusion. He... thought I was dead too? What a horrible thing to think! I mean, yeah, he _is _dead, but _I _certainly wasn't! Unless... Oh man.

Unless that stupid Doctor and his companions managed to _kill _me when trying to swap my conscience with that of an AI robot. Which means Cave's plan had failed; and telling him with make him angry. Seeing as that I was around him when he was recording the pre-recorded messages for Test Shaft 09, I know what he starts to do when he gets mad; even if it involves screaming and hollering about combustible lemons and moon rocks.

"I... Uhh,"

He raised a brow expectantly.

I couldn't just blurt that his plan to exchange one life into another had failed, could I? Maybe I could... maybe.

"I died... when an experiment failed,"

Instantly, I caught the full attention of the former CEO. He took a step closer to me and withdrew his hands from his pockets, I half thought he was going to punch me, but all those kind of thoughts were subsided when I remembered how close we were as friends.

"A failed experiment, eh?" He said solemnly.

God, I knew he wasn't one to take bad news lightly. He wanted what he wanted, and what he wanted he basically got, every single time. A requested experiment which resulted in his friends death was probably something that he _definitely _didn't want happening.

"Expand on that for me, Wheatley,"

Oh man, oh man. Last names.

"Uhh, it was a fail... in that.. Y'know, experiment,"

"Spit it out already!"

"Okay, fine! It was the DNA transfer of my persona that that of a computers!"

"... The core transfer failed?"

I scrunched my nose up slightly, without much meaning; "I suppose so, because unless they planned this, I happen to be _dead _right now,"

Cave looking around slightly, and closed his eyes for a few moments. Good, that's a great sign. At least he's actually learnt how to control those anger bursts. Cave exhaled through his mouth and opened his brown eyes slowly to stare at me with the hawk-like glare I was used too.

"Stop getting your panties in a twist, you old lady," he said after a few moments of silence, with a grin, and I let out a silently held breath, "If you're dead, then that's that. All experiments go through testing phases, and as long as those asses up there are running the place fine, and sweet Caroline gets transferred safely into the main AI, everything's good!"

"Except we're dead,"

He looked the littlest bit defeated;

"Uh, right. Except that. _But_, there's always gotta be a way around it, eh? I mean, come on, no more worrying about the safety of others!"

I looked around slowly, there was still literally nothing around us.

"Okay..." I said, taking the time to put my hands in the pockets of my only left article of clothing, "But seeing as we're both dead, and this is where you go when you die; shouldn't we find something more constructive to do rather than stand around and talk about death?"

With a laugh, Cave placed an ice cold hand on my shoulder and turned me around, he pushed me slightly so I started walking, then himself started walking next to me.

"We're dead," he said simply, as we walked onwards through the pitch black expanse, his voice made no echo, nor did it sound too close.

I nodded slowly, keeping my empty gaze ahead,

"...and unless you brought something to do, this is it,"

I stopped walking, looking directly over to my boss, squinting my eyes as I understood what he had said. Wait, seriously? I thought that dying meant going to heaven and having everything you ever dreamed of around you, and seeing your deceased loved ones and old childhood pets, and you were allowed to relive the best moments of your life. Yet, Cave thinks _this _is it? He must be joking!

"You're joking," I said with enthusiasm, raising my eyebrows slightly, my eyes darted around his own as he chuckled,

"Well, half and half,"

I straightened up. Half and half? What was that meant to mean?

"Marcus, boy, we haven't died yet!"

My chest contracted, and I almost had to catch myself from shock. What? So, If I weren't dead, then neither was he! This meant great things for the company, if Cave survived the liver failure and Mercury poisoning... well, uh... saying it like that doesn't make it sound too likely.

"We're in _Limbo_!" He stated loudly, motioning to the black expanse which surrounded us, "People get sent here until they actually die, or survive going under. It's quite interesting actually, it's more like a waiting room for the semi-dead than a place that decides your fate, haha!"

Just as he said that, the arm he held out which was closest to me began to flicker; as if he were a TV channel loosing it's reception. My eyes opened wide and I reached for the arm, almost instantly he pulled it back and glared at me defiantly.

"Don't touch me!" He said, in a sudden, almost scared voice. A quick change in persona.

Looking back to his arm, I could see clearly that its definition was becoming less eligible, and it was spreading. His shoulder, and now right leg, were all shimmering and losing their colour. I had an inkling about what was happening to him.

He looked at me desperately, and I almost shrugged. I really didn't know what was going to happen, and I didn't know how to respond; but it seemed like Aperture wasn't doing a too good of a job of keeping him alive. As the fading and glitching of his body rose to his face, he took a long look into my eyes.

"You we're a good Stocks Managing Assistant," He said quietly, "So good that I'd promote you and get rid of that sleazy, bald Stocks Manager that you work under, If I weren't about to leave,"

He looked at his feet and shook his head slightly, probably trying to clear his thoughts,

"If I'm actually on my way out now, I want you to know something,"

I nodded.

"The mainframe AI is rigged,"

With that said, the fuzzing became stronger, until his body was just a pixellated light, twisting and turning, then, with a single crackling sound, it disappeared.

"C-Cave?" I asked nothing, seeing as now I was the only person standing in the darkness, "You there?"

There was now an itching sensation slowly crawling up my legs, and I looked down hastily to see my feet and legs slowly becoming invisible. I mean, I could feel that they were still there, but just couldn't see them. I took a few hasty steps back and raised my arms, looking down in shock at my legs, the disappearance of my being continued up to the waist, and by then I was crying out in choked sobs.

Then, slowly, ebbing back to me like it had done before, was the pain. Not as strong as when I had supposedly died, but still strong enough to make a lasting effect. I held my head and cried out as a searing headache passed through me, bringing waves of thundering pain along with it.

Either I was dying properly, or something else was happening too me.

I looked at my hands in worry, they were not becoming undistinguishable like Cave had quickly become, they were fading, and I was becoming invisible.

Twisting around in pain, I tried to get a better look at myself; that's if I could actually see myself. All I could see now was the vague outline of my body.

Suddenly; voices.

"_He's coming back!"_

"_Get him back under the sedative before he gets up!"_

"_No, Strap him down!"_

"_There isn't time! We have to get out before the Neurotoxin's take ahold and cause us internal damage!"_

"_What about Wheatley?"_

"_He's tied up with the life support, SHE can deal with him, now, get your ass moving, we have to get-"_

I twisted around again, in a full circle, trying to see where the frantic voices were coming from. I fell to my knees as more pain enveloped me, and I ended up resting my invisible forehead on the ground. Yeah, I was being sent back to the 'real world', and it certainly did not feel good.

-:-:-:-

**Really sorry, kinda had to cut it short AGAIN.**

**Because my stupid STUPID**

**LAPTOP**

**CHARGER**

**Decided to go and burn itself out! So, I can't write till I get a new one in a few days!**

**F.M.L**

**AGH AHGGJSEJHDFNSA! I NEED MY VIDEOGAMES**

**TO REMAIN**

**SANE.**

…**.**

**Anywhoo... Thanks for the reviews so far, and you**

**know I'd definitely appreciate some more.**

**There is a fair share of people who only**

**add the story to alerts, when they know**

**full well that they could write a short review too..**

**C'mon, it ain't hard.**

**I know who you are.**

**Thanks, see you soon, hopefully.**

**-~-~PJAY~-~-**

**xOx**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: Trying to incorporate a little more of Wheatley(IDS-Version)'s_ in-game_ _personality_ in this chapter, although nobody has mention it in reviews, I can tell in my writing that he seems slightly out of character; Well, he's hard to describe as a human. I apologise if reading this has increased your Literacy skill by +1, seeing as it is quite a long Authors Note. I should stop talking now, otherwise you guys will be too good at reading! Enjoy the chapter, and please comment on anything you'd like to see in future chapters, all ideas are and will be welcomed and considered :) **

"**Intelligence Dampening Sphere"**

**-Chapter3-**

_Previously; _

_I twisted around again, in a full circle, trying to see where the frantic voices were coming from. I fell to my knees as more pain enveloped me, and I ended up resting my invisible forehead on the ground. Yeah, I was being sent back to the 'real world', and it certainly did not feel good._

||-13:32-||-4thJune-||-1982-||-Sector 9-||-Tier 6-||

"Oh...God," I whispered hoarsely, raising my head a little, "Definitely not going to any... urgh... any more of these secret meetings again." I coughed, straining to open my eyes. The light was too bright for my eyes to adjust this soon, so I lay back and breathed slowly, I could feel my throat was dry and rough and it hurt a little to swallow.

Where was Cave? Was he still here? Maybe I was just hallucinating under the sedative that kept me asleep. Wait... Am I even human? Am I the AI? God this is a lot of process at once.

My fingertips twitched.

Nope; still a human. God, the stupid Biogenics Department can't get anything right, can they. So here I am, strapped to a bed, half blinded, and half supported by a life-support machine. I can't even move on my own, so I guess I'll have to wait for help.

Great, just great.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. I could practically feel my pupils shrinking to pinhead sized dots. The extremely bright ceiling lights, probably used to light the room during an operation, blazed hotly down at me as I was slowly adjusting. I groaned slightly and looked around, as much as I could turn my head.

Something got caught under my chin, and I looked down to see that I actually had a gas mask on. What the? So, was the air in the room not good enough for me? Gheeze, picky Biogenic Department. Man, I've really developed a dislike for those guys.

Right, as far as I could see, I was still strapped down, and the room was completely empty.

I say empty, but there _was _a guy hunched over in the corner. My eyes widened slowly. Oh man, there is a guy hunched over in the corner!

"Crapballs," I whispered, seeing the front of his pure white lab coat stained with a rose red substance, drying and cracked around the edges, smouldering on becoming brown in tone.

"Crap. Balls," I repeated individually, now struggling against my bonds to try and free myself. Not good, I was still weak. Couldn't even lean forward enough to break a stupid belt! Right. Marcus, calm down. That's right, breathe evenly, nice and slow-like. I need to think things through, about what Cave told me.

What _did _Cave tell me?

Uhh... Something to do with Caroline? No, no... but something similar. Auugh, umm. Oh! Right, the AI. The AI was … rigged? Oh man, now I remember. Bloody good thing I did too, otherwise it'd have never come back to me.

Rigged... Rigged. So, Caroline's transfer was rigged to... to what? Exactly. I have no clue why Cave would rig the system, hopefully _not _to get one last kick before hitting the hay, metaphorically speaking. Why would he risk all the lives of his Aperture employees for one last laugh before he died? Well... To be honest, he always gets the last say in things, and the last laugh, to be fair. Anyone as psychotically deranged as him could probably muster up a hell-storm before they died, so he probably just sees this as an improvement. Wait, did he even _like _the facility? Maybe he...

No, no no. Be quiet, me. You know he loved Aperture.

Remembering what I had just seen, I looked away from the bloody body, and spotted a camera. It was hustled in the far corner of the room; nothing fancy, nothing super-duper-amazing. Just a video recorder, strapped with duct tape and metal poles to the upper-left corner of the room, a few wires protruding from it here and there.

Wow, Cave really _did _go bust after Black Mesa stole his products, if his security was left down to a family recording appliance taped to the wall.

There was a steady red light, blinking at me, from within the camcorder, and I stared, wide eyed, as the lens focused and unfocused; like something was watching me.

"H-Hello?" I said loudly, mentally pinching myself for sounding so afraid. I mean, come on, who the hell is afraid of a video-camera? Fft, nobody.

"_He-llo, Marcus," _Came the soft voice of a woman I knew all too well. Her voice was distorted to the smallest of a degree, and the usually calm tone seemed slightly forced.

"Oh my..." I whispered, before speaking up slightly, "Caroline, have you..."

"_Yes," _She interrupted sternly, _"AI transfer was completed successfully today at 12:27,"_

"Can you help me get out?" I asked, shaking my head to get an annoying pain to go away, which I got from looking back at the suspended device.

"_I would," _she said in a monotone drawl, _"But we have much more.. important things to be getting on with at this time, like testing."_

"Caroline?" I said, my eyebrows raising slightly, "Caroline are you okay,"

There was no response, and I was left staring at the small blinking LED on the camera's surface. There was no breathing, no huffing, no movement. She really wasn't there, not the Caroline I knew. Not the sensitive and clear-minded woman, who I was so used to watching as she tried to calm down the reckless Cave as he ranted on about some new invention, or how he hated Black Mesa.

If the AI was rigged, then there must be a problem on the motherboard. Now, I'm no techie, but by the way she was sounding, something was definitely up.

Not to mention the potentially dead man lying in the corner of the room. Maybe the reason he is there is linked to the 'rigged' AI, and the half-frantic voices I heard just before departing from Limbo.

"Caroline!" I yelled, almost desperately, wriggling around my my tight confines against the bed, "Let me out! I want to see if I can help that man!"

There was a slight buzzing over the intercom, then her pitch perfect voice rung loud.

"_I'm afraid I cannot let you out, we are following the Aperture AI Transfer Protocol,"_

"The what?" I asked, letting my head fall back onto the bed in ache, "The... Transfer Protocol, _what _Protocol?"

"_We are following the Aperture AI Transfer Protocol," _She repeated, same voice, same tone, same pitch.

"Explain,"

"_I cannot do that at this particular point in time, Wheatley,"_

"Caroline..."

"_I understand that you know me by the name Caroline. Please refrain from any personal greetings, names, nicknames, titles, or referrals,"_

"What?" I struggled against my bonds, "You just called me Marcus _and _Wheatley! And I can't call you Caroline?"

"_Please refrain,"_

I let out a long, held breath. She'd changed. Something had, anyway. She was following some kinda of 'protocol', most likely the bloody rigged system Cave had put into the computer. Crazy man. Stupid.

Not bothering to respond, I breathed heavily, glancing down only to see my gas mask steaming up with my hot breathing. As much as I needed it, I really didn't want to wear that mask. I felt cooped up enough as it was with my hands bound to my sides and my body refrained from moving.

I scraped my chin against my shoulder, trying to remove the mask to get to the hopefully fresher air. It was half off when her voice spoke up again.

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you,"_

I glared up in her, err, direction. Well, the direction of the camera, anyhow. It annoyed me slightly that she was just watching me struggle on my own, trying to remove the device. Why would she not want to me take it off, anyway?

"Why," I said in a muffled voice, my mouth half breathing the cool distilled air from the room, half from the gas mask.

"_For one, I definitely would not want to be breathing in a room intoxication with deadly Neurotoxin's,"_

My breathing hitched slightly and I stared at the camera. My eyes widened slowly, before I hurriedly started shoving my face against my other shoulder, to push the mask back into place. I glared back at the camera, then down at the presumed dead man slumped on the floor, then back to the camera.

"Why?"

"_I couldn't help it. Don't want too many ignorant young scientists clogging up my facility, would I?"_

"What the... but Cave-"

"_Cave, is out of the question," _She interrupted hastily, tone raising a little, becoming slightly harsher._"He was the person demanding my control of the centre. I couldn't help myself with getting rid of him in order for that demand to become true,"_

My mouth hung open, and I longingly stared at the AI's camera. So... _she _killed Cave, and when me and him were in Limbo, he was actually surviving the procedures undergoing to save him in the first place, and she stopped it! If Cave knew she was rigged, surely he knew what she would do to him. Surely... he must of known she would murder him?

He had this all planned out, didn't he. He _knew _she was going to turn sour and possibly kill the entire crew at Aperture, then him, and take control. He wanted her to run the place, I knew that far, but literally clearing the place of everythingseemed a little, I don't know... Utterly and immorally _insane_!

She loved him! They had a _child _together! I bet she killed her daughter, too! Great! A mass murderer, probably closed off facility, flippin' loads of dead vegetables loitering the place, and I'm the only living person, strapped down to a half working life-support machine with a deadly neurotoxin surrounding me!

… And to top it all off, my ear is itchy.

-:-

I sighed, watching my gas mask fog up.

"This isn't my idea of a Monday afternoon," I said, mostly to myself, before adding darkly, "... Not to mention all the dead people I'm spending my day with,"

Caroline didn't reply. Infact, looking back at the camera, I could see that the little red LED was no longer blinking, and was just... on. Maybe she was tending to things elsewhere, and when I say things, I mean dead bodies.

I came to realise how hot the room was becoming. I could feel sweat dribbling down my forehead and across my neck. Glancing down, I could even see the salty water gathering on parts of my chest, and where the leather belts were still strapped against my skin, I was starting to become red and raw.

"Caroline," I said grimly, staring up at the ceiling, "Please tell me you're there,"

A short pause, and then a response.

"_I'm here," _She said abruptly, _"Sorry... I was testing,"_

I looked back tiredly at the camera, the LED was blinking again. So, she was somewhere else whenever it was a constant light, and she couldn't be two places at once. That's a reassurance I guess.

"_Now," _She said sullenly, _"I'm letting you out, but only because I need you to move into a different room," _

Tough luck. The moment she lets me out, I'm pegging it for the main exit. It's only... another 5 tiers above me. Cheesus, I'm not going to be able to make that without her stopping me.

"Where bout's we moving too?"

"_A more... Modern part of the facility. Tier 1-2,"_

A flicker of a smile puckered in the crevices of my mouth, and I tried to remain the tiniest bit non-excited as I felt the bonds holding me down finally give way. Instantly, I sat up and stretched my arms outwards. Oh god, it never felt so good to move before. I could literally feel the stress disappearing away somewhere, and that almost godly feeling of having a good stretch flooding into me.

I'd been strapped down for what... hours and hours, in the same position, on a sticky rubber bed, with irritating belts to hold me down. Trust me, this felt like bliss.

"_The tier has been drained of Neurotoxin, you can removed your mask,"_

I obliged, and took a whiff of slightly cool-musky air. Hm, wasn't actually as warm in here as I thought it would be.

"_Be aware, Mr. Wheatley, that any chance you take to escape whilst escorted to upper tiers _will _result in a future long life of testing and testing..."_

I slid slowly off the bed and stretched my legs, taking time to gather myself. I looked back at the blinking camera and gave her a small smile.

"Okay, Caroline,"

Considering she killed over... I don't know how many people, that worked in the facility, I'm guessing I should do what she says. I mean, I don't want to do what Cave hired those Olympians... War heroes and... what, uh... Oh right, hobos, to do. Testing in endless amounts of test chambers and rooms didn't sound that great.

"_Walk down this immediate corridor, then take the elevator, it should lead to the upper shafts,"_

"Yes, Caroline," I said in an almost child-like manner, shaking my hands before stepping over the dead scientists body and walking calmly down the corridor.

"_Please... refrain from calling me that."_

**-:-:-:-**

**BadaBADUMMM.**

**Woo, Chapter, Yes, Finally!**

**Sorry for wait and stuff. Yeah.**

**Well**

**y'see**

**turns out it WASNT my charger that exploded,**

**it.. was my**

**Hair straighteners.**

**Don't ask. No. Really. Please don't. **

**SRSLY.**

**BUT, on the bright side, I fixed them on my own! Only a little wire-shortening**

**and fuse-replacing, then**

**BAM!**

**Good-as-new!**

**Oh right, right, another bright side thing is I posted a chapter. BOOYAH.**

**Hope you like it, thanks for the reviews so far.**

**But, more would be**

**HIGHLY**

**appreciated.**

**:3**

**-~-~PJAAY~-~-**

**xOx**

**god I'm retarded.**

**EDIT: Corrected some stupid spelling mistakes. **

**I should learn to check my work.**


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